Lo Should Be Transit Commission Chairman: CRERAR

09/16/2025

Project management consists of 12 disciplines, although any list you see will likely show only 11 because “ethics” is usually not included among them.

That being said, we begin all projects with the three basic components, scope, time and cost. The scope of the LRT project was defined long before ex-mayor Jim Watson was elected, although he likely chose the artwork for the various stations.

As we all recall, Watson repeatedly told residents of the city that the project would be “on-time and on-budget”. I doubt if he ever consulted with the project management team on the validity of this statement. This put the project team under enormous pressure because I understand that, even though he always appeared cheery, Watson was domineering.

In effect Watson was running the project and was not listening to those who were telling him what he promised couldn’t be done. As a result, many decisions were likely made under duress, bad decisions as it turns out. So, thank you Jim Watson, please take a final bow. Add to that the fact that council’s transit chairman under Watson was Allan Hubley whose CV offers nothing to indicate he was in any way qualified for that position. He was probably one of Watson’s best head nodders at the time.

So too the new chairman Glen Gower whose CV does not indicate any knowledge in the area of transportation, although he does have some experience in risk management, another component of project management. The best thing city council can do at this point is hang tough, hope Barrhaven East Councillor Wilson Lo runs again next year and appoint him chairman of transit commission. In his first term on city council, Lo has proven himself to be one of the most logical thinkers within The Group of 24.

If city manager Wendy Stephanson is smart, she will not choose a new general manager of OC Transpo until Lo is on board and she can work side-by-side with him to begin getting Ottawa’s most costly embarrassment back in line.

Howard Crerar is a project manager and has worked in the software industry for three decades.